Improvement in sheet-metal cans



UNITE Snares @rrron.

TRYON J. M. JEWELL, OF NEW YORK, Y., ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF HIS RIGHT TO NATHAN SEELEY AND GEORGE I. STEVENS, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN SHEET-METAL CANS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 182,674, dated September 26, 1876; application filed April 5, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, TRYON J. M. JEWELL, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in Self- Opening Cans, of which the following is a specification:

This invention consists in a novel combination of an ez'zternal peripherical groove formed in the body of a sheet-metal can, with an internal peripherical groove formed in the flange ot' the cover, the two grooves being so arranged that, when the can is closed, the one will be brought coincident with the other, to form a channel, cylindric or circular in its cross-section, entirely around the can, by which means provision is made for the insertion of a rip ping or cutting wire after the can is otherwise complete, whereby an easily-made and eflicient self-opening can, so termed, is provided.

Figure 1 is a side view of a can made according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a side view and partial section of thesame. Fig. 3 is a central vertical section of the same. Fig. 4 is a similar view, representing the can as made without the cutting-wire. Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken in the line .70 m of Figs. 1

and 2.

A is the body of the can, made of sheet 7 metal and of cylindrical or other suitable lessthis body A is formed with an external circumferential groove, a, of semicircular cross-section. B is the slipcover of the can, like it formed of sheet metal, and having its flange A of such width that when the cover is shut down upon the can the said flange will shut past and below the groove to, whereupon it is soldered at its lower edge to the body A. Formed internally in this flange A of the cover B is a groove, 0, having the same width as the groove to, and provided at such distance from the top of the cover that when the cover is closed down, as hereinbefore indicated, the groove 0 in the flange of the cover will be brought opposite to, or, in other words, coincident with, the groove to of the body of the can. By this means a channel circular in its cross-section is formed entirely around the can,

the form of this chamber being more distinctly shown in Fig. 4:- An orifice, 1), opening externally, as shown in Fig. 1, being provided to this chamber, a wire, 0, is thrust into the chamber and around through the same, as represented in Fig. 5, until the end reappears at the orifice and passes outward, as indicated at a in Figs. 1 and 2. This end a may be then fixed to the adjoining surface of the flange, either by a drop of solder, by turning it sharply back over the edge of the orifice, or by other suitable means. The other outwardly-projecting end 0 being grasped, and a tensional strain exerted thereon in a direction more or less radial to the axis of the can, the wire will cut through the thin metal of the flange, and thus sever the coverB from the body A, the flange being previously soldered fast at its lower edge to close the can. 7

It will be understood that the inward thrust of the wire through the chamber formed by the coincidence of the grooves 00 c is wholly dependent upon the circular the said chamber, inasmuch as, if one side of the latter were flat, (as would be the case if a groove were formed only in one or the other but not in both of the two adjoining surfaces,) the wire would catch and bind, and its passage around the can would be prevented.

I am aware that it is not new to construct the body of a can with a circumferential groove for the reception of a cutting instrument, the flange of the cover shutting over said groove, and I do not, therefore, claim such devices; but

What I claim as my invention is A metal can havingacircumt'erential groove, a, formed in the body of the can, as shown,

said can being provided with a flanged cover having a corresponding groove, 0, formed in its flange, and arranged to register with the groove a in the body of the can, and form a recess or chamber for the reception of a cut ting-wire, substantially as described.

TRYON J. M. J EWELL. Witnesses:

W. M. EDWARD, W H. MATTHAEI.

cross-section of 

